


Journey's End?

by Merfilly



Series: Walk a Different Road [15]
Category: Transformers (Bay Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Character Death Fix, Multi, Xenophilia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-28
Updated: 2011-10-28
Packaged: 2017-10-25 01:17:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/270085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The island base has a new occupant or two, and the future is open to them all</p>
            </blockquote>





	Journey's End?

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you to Femme4Jack, who discussed her ideas behind Ozone with me, and we learned we had something of an overlap in thinking. This fic takes a slightly different track than what was discussed, but I want her to know I appreciate all of the discussion and idea sharing.
> 
> Canonical hatchlings still present.
> 
> Takes place after RotF but precludes sequels.
> 
> Xeno (mech/human) relationships heavily implied this part.

Mikaela and Starscream involved in a stare-off was the first clue that things had shifted drastically in the world of Cybertron's exiles, so far as Prime was concerned once he and Jazz had found the ability to rejoin the rest of the world. Firstly, he was concerned because she was in the Former Decepticon Building without a single Autobot to protect her. Secondly, it was Starscream.

"Ahem." The polite noise was for Mikaela's sake, in case she had not felt his arrival. So many things Jazz had clarified, of the strangeness that had happened since his near death, with a few simple insights. One of those was Mikaela and Sam, and their strong resonances within the Autobot energy fields. Prime could not wait to speak to her about his discoveries, as she would actually understand the implications better than Sam would.

"Your annoying little human is refusing to allow the hatchlings full access to me," Starscream said without looking away from the stubborn creature in front of him.

"I am not. I am telling you they will come and go as they please, and I will not order them to nest in here," Mikaela fired back, making Sparky hiss from where he was perched on her shoulders with a set of talons in her hair as he stood with defiance in every micrometer of his frame.

"They are mine!" Starscream said with a shrill note.

"They are Cybertron's future." Prime's voice came down with the weight of law decreed from on high. It had the effect he wanted, as both contestants turned to look at him. "Starscream, their free will should be encouraged; you know this. They have to interact with those their coding draws them to, so they can imprint, and choose the path of developments they will take."

"But… humans, and Autobots… " Starscream spluttered.

Prime almost told them both, then and there, what he had learned. But he would wait, holding back for now. Starscream would never accept it.

"Can you deny that my people are as much warriors and survivors as your own?" Optimus asked instead.

Starscream grumbled but he settled his wings back, before picking up the hatchling closer to him, inspecting it closely. "They seem nourished. Clean. And they are very active." He approved of this so far. "Prime, my status among you will not be as a combatant, when Megatron comes to destroy you again. But the hatchlings belong to me, and therefore I will see to their safety in that event."

"Make no action against my Autobots, and you have my permission to remain here while they mature. After…." Prime's voice trailed off.

"There will be no after," Starscream sniffed. "Once they are mature, I am certain I will have had my fill of Autobot hospitality."

"And us of you," Mikaela informed him, before reaching up to disentangle Sparky. "Ow, you little talon monster," she complained when he scratched her neck where the armor parted. The hatchling immediately crooned, and let go completely. "It's alright." She rubbed his head a little, and then set him down with the brood. "Have fun getting them fed," she jauntily told Starscream, pointing to the containers Ratchet had wheeled in early in the 'parlay' over the rules for the brood.

Sparky's optics glinted at the mention of food, and he pounced on Starscream's hand, making rapid binary demands to be nourished.

"But…"

Optimus watched Mikaela come to him over that startled protest, and leveled his gaze on Starscream. "It is the easiest way to imprint them, Starscream, or had you forgotten that?" He reached down, picking up the small human, and letting her settle on his shoulder before walking out of the building to the howls of Seeker and now agitated brood.

`~`~`~`~`

"Hey Mikki." Jazz had already made his way back to the berth in Optimus's quarters. Optimus had stopped for some badly needed energy rations, and Mikaela had taken the moment… and lack of hatchlings… to eat a full meal. It was nice to do so without the little critters trying to sample everything for themselves.

"You're bound and determined to use that for my name, aren't you, Jazz?" She smiled at him; Mikki was so long ago, back when there had been a 'mom' in the picture. It didn't really bother her from this sleek mech, though, when he radiated a new level of completion to their family.

"Only if you're okay with it, Mikaela." He accepted charge of her as Optimus gently shifted her from his shoulder down to the berth. The bigger mech soon joined them, reclining on his side so he could watch them, touch them if he wanted. Sideswipe was on strict orders to keep things quiet (no picking fights with their new addition) and to only alert Prime if there was to be military action off base. As Ironhide and Bumblebee had opted to stay, refuel, and recharge, Optimus felt secure that they would have a breather. Even if Ironhide's protests of fatigue had been buried by a certain medic dragging him off, they would have a small quiet period, Prime corrected.

"From you," Mikaela decided. "Ratchet calls me 'Mik' when things get moving fast. So do the soldiers who talk to me, unless they're snotty, and then it is 'Banes'." She settled against Prime's abdomen section so his warmth radiated along her spine, but she could see Jazz, knowing he had things to say by the buzz of his resonance.

"Alright then, little sister." Jazz smiled, then stretched a little, showing off that shining new frame. He liked the way both her eyes and Prime's optics drifted along the lines. More, he appreciated the complete lack of shame or jealousy he sensed in his organic cadre member. "So, seems the whole thing with you absorbing energy and noticing our signatures is a mystery, right?"

"I know I'm changing. Ratchet too, but not why. And until those… jerkwads told Megatron, I had no idea the energy was multiplying," Mikaela said. She shrugged her slim shoulders. "Ratch and I had more important things than to dig into me."

Jazz smiled broadly, knowing he was the project in question. "Well, wonder no more, darlin'," Jazz drawled. He tapped his chest, over the spark chamber. "I think I got flash-fried with info when the Allspark was destroyed, since my own spark was open and vulnerable at the time." He paused so Optimus could adjust his positioning to be a little more protectively close. "Yeah, big guy. In the long run, maybe we needed to know this."

"The Allspark download that Jazz received is part of what nurtured his spark fragments," Optimus said slowly. "It wished the message to be known, and through your efforts with Ratchet, now we have access to data we might have lost."

Mikaela nodded. "Okay, so… back to me, since I'm the girl, and sometimes can act like one… "

"As I learned when Sam placed the Matrix within me, we had been here before," Prime said. "Through Jetfire's scattered memories, I know that Megatron was not the only long-term resident of Cybertron here on Earth as well. Exposure to Cybertronians has a mutagen effect on human cellular structure, though it is quite advanced in your case. Some humans are more receptive to the effect, because of what the Primes did to stop the Fallen," he explained.

"The Allspark knew that humans were susceptible, mostly because of seeing the effects on Sam," Jazz said. "Put that with what Prime told me the Matrix revealed, and I think we influenced your species' evolution. All those people who ever had tricks that couldn't really be explained by the science of their time, you with your adaptation for spark energy, other things… goes back to the people who fought the Fallen."

Mikaela looked startled, but she turned her face up to Optimus, who nodded.

"Humans who were near that final battle, possibly for quite some distance, were bathed in a purer form of spark energy than simply being near to us when the Primes chose to sacrifice themselves. The wave of energy changed those humans at a deeper level, and the genetic coding was dominant, apparently." Optimus caressed a finger down her hair, as Mikaela puzzled through that.

"So, like Sam's genes were affected by the encounter with Megatron by his ancestor, mine are… because I'm descended from those fighters?"

"Most likely," Jazz agreed.

"What this means in a larger sense, Mikaela, is that I am more obligated than ever to defend your people," Optimus told her. "My lineage, the Primes, created a link between our peoples that cannot be sundered."

She moved to where she was in front of his face, kissing his cheek lightly, before smiling. "You had already decided this was to be home, no matter what you now know, because you want us to be safe."

Optimus's optics glowed brighter, before he nodded. "There is potential to be tapped into, through our kinship, though."

"And that can be discussed later," Jazz interjected, snaking a hand out to caress one of the newer sensor arrays, testimony of Jetfire's sacrifice, just to watch Optimus shudder in reaction. "Don't you think so, fellow consort?"

"I really do," Mikaela purred.

`~`~`~`~`

Prime sat up on the outlook hill, the highest point of their island, enjoying the morning sun. Jazz and Mikaela were still recharging. Ironhide was still with Ratchet. Sideswipe had let Bumblebee relieve him, and disappeared to Mirage's quarters with Hound. The rest of his troops were scattered, performing humanitarian efforts, as the organics called them.

Somewhere out there, Megatron was planning. He had Soundwave assisting him.

The future was on the brink of opening its doors to them all, though. He would find a way to safeguard his cadre, his new world, and end this war in that future. It was not arrogance; it was sheer fact of numbers and resources.

However, that day could wait for now, as his reverie was broken by the most unknown factor of all.

"This rock is too small," Starscream groused at the Prime, before settling on his aft near the younger mech.

"Cybertron is unobtainable."

Starscream's optics glinted, but he did not answer that directly. "I still oppose the order you stand for."

Prime looked at the Seeker with darker optics than usual. "I don't think you know what order I stand for. I'm not sure any of us still do know our own positions in this war. Megatron is consumed by his need to destroy, you have answered the call of the race's survival, and I find myself in need of learning how to make the Human-Cybertronian alliance beneficial to both sides."

Starscream gave a brittle laugh. "Careful, Prime, or they'll enslave you more thoroughly than the Ancients were. You and your noblesse oblige."

Prime tipped his head, understanding the warning. "I will guard our people from such folly, Starscream. Perhaps, despite all our differences, and the deaths that divide us, you and I will find a common drive in guarding those who remain." Extending the olive branch, Prime had heard Will say, took more strength than holding a gun.

Starscream made a small noise. "We shall see, Prime. We shall see."

They fell to silence, as the future waited just beyond the horizon.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [A New Found Hope](https://archiveofourown.org/works/413477) by [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly)




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